Her mother, an account manager for a box company, encouraged her daughter to keep looking, even outside of California. She is raising Alia, whose father died from a heart attack when she was 8 years old, on her own.

When asked about her interest in medicine, Alia recalls the moment when she found her father after he collapsed.

"I always thought I could do something more to wake him up," she said. "I sprayed him with spray bottles, shook him, kissed him. It took me a long time to realize I couldn't wake him. I want to give somebody the opportunity to wake up."

Since then she thought about becoming a doctor. When Sundari Mohan Seva Bhawan Hospital showed interest, she jumped at the chance.

Having already traveled to India twice, Alia felt familiar with the country. She remembered seeing poverty firsthand while taking a hostel-jumping trip through the Himalayas with her mother in eighth grade.

This time, she organized the trip in August on her own. Her mother and grandfather chipped in about $2,000.

Chief of Surgery Dr. Kumar K. Das met her at the airport. For her first week, Das led her around the hospital, letting her shadow doctors in different departments.

The moment she arrived in the surgery room, she knew that's where she wanted to stay, she said.

She witnessed the gaping differences in medical care there. At an American hospital, a gall bladder surgery might cost $20,000. A modern hospital in India might charge $3,000, but where Alia worked it was $6 — and sometimes free. The doctors donate their time, she said.

People walk miles to get to the hospital, sometimes selling their belongings or going without food to afford care.

"These surgeons will work on them for whatever they can afford," she said.

When she wasn't in the operating room, Alia toured the area alongside Das, visiting an academy for the blind and a school for the mentally disabled. She wandered up into the mountains, handing out food to tribal children.

She returned home with an empty suitcase, handing out her clothing to those who needed it in Silchar, Alia said.

"I left the hospital thinking, 'How can I do more?''' she said. "I'm already saving up to go back this summer."

Alia plans to go every summer for as long as she can.

"I was just mesmerized at this story because she's so humble," LBHS Principal Joanne Culverhouse said. "It's just something she did that revealed her passion for humankind. Her purpose is just awareness."

Alia plans to go to medical school and perhaps study biology or neuroscience as an undergrad. She's applying to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Rice and Stanford universities, and other prestigious schools. She said her admittance depends on scholarship opportunities.

"When I was younger, I thought traveling gave me an opportunity to learn and see other things," she said. "As I got older, I realized it gave me the opportunity to learn about myself."

In his first budget address to lawmakers, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf laid out an ambitious $33.8 billion spending plan that raises taxes a combined 16 percent while slashing corporate and property taxes, restores cuts to education and wipes out the state's deficit.

Here we go again. The entire Lehigh Valley region, as well as parts of northern New Jersey will be under a winter weather advisory in effect from 3 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday for snow, sleet and freezing rain.